I see you know about this problem of corrupted settings files from your earlier thread: What happened to my extensions?

Numerous users have been reporting this problem in the past few days. I don't have any idea why it is suddenly "going around."

Do you use any utility, privacy, or security software that cleans up browser settings? Examples of programs that sometimes modify or replace files in Firefox's profile folders include: Advanced SystemCare and CCleaner.

You might also back up the files to a safe location once you finish approving the extensions for easier restoration the next time.

cjweisman said

I install my extensions. They are still installed because I see some of them below the tool bar. But when I go to Tools-->Add-ons-->Extensions it says I don have an installed. Now if I go to the Profiles folder and delete every file with the word "extensions" in and close Firefox and re-open it, it asks me if I want to reinstall all my extensions, which takes quite a bit of time. And then they disappear and I start the process all over again. And yes, i disabled sync. I'm out of ideas. I just want to install them once and have them be there day after day.

Well I do use CCleaner sometimes. I can certainly run an experiment to see if that's it.

jscher2000 said

I see you know about this problem of corrupted settings files from your earlier thread: What happened to my extensions? Numerous users have been reporting this problem in the past few days. I don't have any idea why it is suddenly "going around." Do you use any utility, privacy, or security software that cleans up browser settings? Examples of programs that sometimes modify or replace files in Firefox's profile folders include: Advanced SystemCare and CCleaner. You might also back up the files to a safe location once you finish approving the extensions for easier restoration the next time.

I ran a CCleaner experiment and for now the extensions are still there.

Okay, so, mystery unsolved.

Could you make backups of the "working" extensions.ini and extensions.json files in a safe location like your Documents folder? We could do a text comparison with corrupted files the next time they get corrupted. (I usually use WinMerge for that kind of thing: http://winmerge.org/.) In this case, we probably will need to format the .json files a bit to aid the comparison tool because otherwise they are just one long line.

jscher2000 said

Okay, so, mystery unsolved. Could you make backups of the "working" extensions.ini and extensions.json files in a safe location like your Documents folder? We could do a text comparison with corrupted files the next time they get corrupted. (I usually use WinMerge for that kind of thing: http://winmerge.org/.) In this case, we probably will need to format the .json files a bit to aid the comparison tool because otherwise they are just one long line.

It happened again but now I have a great big clue. I backed up the extensions.ini file and compared before and after. The after file is missing the following entry:

Extension4={d40f5e7b-d2cf-4856-b441-cc613eeffbe3}

It was obviously deleted. What does that mean?

You can open the extensions.json file in the Scratchpad (Firefox menu button or Tools > Web Developer). Click the "Pretty Print" button to format the file for readability. You can save the formatted JSON file under a different name.

{d40f5e7b-d2cf-4856-b441-cc613eeffbe3} seems to be BetterPrivacy according to a Google search.

What is the file stamp of the modified file compared to the correct file that you saved?

There is a bug in BetterPrivacy on Firefox 42. It's mentioned here:

Sorry, BetterPrivacy currently is incompatible with FF 42. We are working on a fix. Please disable on FF 42 - otherwise please disable this option: 'Prevent the Firefox.....'. until a fix is available. Thank you!

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/betterprivacy/

But actually, the Add-ons site won't even let me install it, so perhaps it has gone on the block list? If the BetterPrivacy extension reappears after rebuilding the settings files, you might want to remove it, in case this is just going to keep happening.

jscher2000 said

There is a bug in BetterPrivacy on Firefox 42. It's mentioned here:

Sorry, BetterPrivacy currently is incompatible with FF 42. We are working on a fix. Please disable on FF 42 - otherwise please disable this option: 'Prevent the Firefox.....'. until a fix is available. Thank you!

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/betterprivacy/

But actually, the Add-ons site won't even let me install it, so perhaps it has gone on the block list? If the BetterPrivacy extension reappears after rebuilding the settings files, you might want to remove it, in case this is just going to keep happening.

I have deleted Better Privacy once and for all. I am hoping that's it. I want to thank everyone who helped me troubleshoot this.